Thursday, May 15, 2008

The curse of the recurring monthly bills

I travelled this week for business and had a rental car with XM radio. I so enjoyed the XM radio I began considering adding an XM radio to my future (hopefully this year) nused car. I was surprised that the monthly subscription fee (if you sign up for a 3 year plan) is a reasonable $10 a month. There are also set-up costs for the system.

But then..... I start thinking about whether I want another recurring monthly bill. Another recurring monthly bill is a sure way to increase our monthly and yearly budget.

At present we have the following 6 monthly recurring bills for our home:
* mortgage with Wachovia
* utility bill from our city
* AT&T which includes a land line, two cell phones (one with a Blackberry data plan - but paid by employer) and DSL internet
* DirecTV
* ADT
* charity payment (we made a yearly giving pledge that we pay monthly)

Do I want another? On one hand, I think that its just $10 a month. $10 a month is not a big deal, its equal to just one lunch out. On the other hand, its $10 a month, every month. And my commute is 10 minutes, not really long enough to get my money's worth.

How many recurring monthly bills do you have? Do you have any you can cut out or reduce?

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